Decrees and Discipleship
Who’s in charge?
God’s Sovereign Decree
There are few topics as contentiously debated as the sovereignty of God, and the topics of chapter 3 of the 1689 we discussed in our planting training this week. Are you supralapsarian or infralapsarian? Well, we didn’t get into that, but we did discuss how the God of the Bible is sovereign over all things, always has been, and always will be.
“From all eternity God decreed everything that occurs, without reference to anything outside himself.”
1689 LBCF 3.1
The problem of evil is our nearly automatic objection to the sovereignty of God. We prefer a more dualistic model where the devil and God are duking it out cosmically. Sometimes the devil pulls off evil that God can’t stop. Or maybe we fear that we will mess God’s plan up!
Martin Luther is famous for saying, “The devil is God’s devil.” We are not Gnostics, we don’t believe that there’s a battle of equal parts good and evil over the fate of mankind. We believe that not only is there one God. but that Christ has obtained a decisive victory over sin, death, and the devil and is now ruling and reigning until He returns (Heb. 1:3, Eph. 1:20-22).
A God who might be able to pull off His plan is not the God of the Bible.
God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?
Numbers 23:19
The plans of God cannot be thwarted (Job 42:2). While we may not understand the perfect infinite will of God that ordained all things before time began, we can trust that His plans are good, for our good, and cannot be undermined. Those justified in Christ will receive their reward, those who have clung to evil will be punished, and every tear will be wiped away.
Perhaps, though, our fear is that if God is sovereign does that make Him the author of evil? At least if the devil is a power player we can use him as a scapegoat for anything bad that happens. But, again that makes God impotent to stop Satan. No, the 1689 and Scripture is clear that God is not the inventor or primary instrument of evil.
“Yet God did this in such a way that he is neither the author of sin nor has fellowship with any in their sin.”
1689 LBCF 3.1
We know that God doesn’t lie, that He doesn’t change, that there’s no shifting shadow in Him (1 John 1:5). Yet, He works all things in such a manner that mankind is free to act on their sinfulness and is ultimately repurposed for His good (Genesis 50:20, Romans 8:28). Remember, God predestined that His very Son, Jesus Christ, would be (freely) killed by wicked men so that you and I could be made right with Him when we believe and repent.
Ultimately, we marveled at how a perfectly good, wise, and sovereign God is worthy of our praise and trust.
Discipleship
Discipleship is one of the two big parts of man’s job in this life. We are commanded to evangelize and disciple. If you had two jobs given to you by God Himself in Scripture (Matthew 28:18-20) you might think that Scripture would clear about our instructions. But, if you looked at how many books are on the topic you might change your mind. It must be very, very complicated if there had to be so much ink spilled on the topic. Never underestimate mankind’s ability to overcomplicate the simple. At it’s basest level, discipleship is the “teaching them to obey all that I have commanded you” part of the Great Commission. As Mark Dever points out,
"Our discipleship to Christ begins when we hear those two words: “Follow me.””
Discipling, Mark Dever
From there, it’s helping others to follow Jesus as we ourselves are helped by others still.
This Friday we will be on our way to Portland to visit Hinson Baptist to be encouraged in the work of discipling others. The IX Marks conferences they hold each year are an incredible time of encouragement, soul nourishment, and a return to clear and simple biblical instruction on things that shouldn’t be overcomplicated.
Prayer Requests
Pray for our trip to Portland this week. We desire to grow deeper in our worship of God and zeal for the work He’s given His church.
Pray for our church (RBC) as we engage our community this Sunday after church. We will be visiting new movers to our neighborhood and introducing ourselves to them. We want our people to grow in confidence and for the lost to be saved.
